Tag | Photography Posts

Editing images can be a tedious task, especially depending on how far from what your eye saw the image comes out of the camera. There are thousands of photo editing applications out there so it is a delight when you find one that works well and makes the process simple. I believe that fotor fits that description. I found that fotor makes most simple adjustments such as brightness, contrast, sharpness, color temperature and cropping. It also has the added features of special effects such as borders, ...

Kevin Tews, a very awesome guy who was the organizer of my trip to Haiti two years ago put together and amazing video from some of the photos I took while in Haiti. Even today, I have still not got back to spunk I used to have for photography before this trip. When you see this through the lens, it is hard to want to take a picture of a park or cityscape. Seeing the devastation and the beauty of Haiti definitely changes a person. Link: http://youtu.be/McZDLjUKJ-c Technorati Tags: Haiti,2 Years Later ...

Ok, so maybe this is really why I need UX designers. While I have always had an interest in photography and can appreciate a well designed user interface putting one together is an entirely different endeavor. Being color blind doesn’t help, but coming up with ideas is probably the biggest portion of the issue. I can spot things that just don’t look like they work right, but what will? UX designers is an area that most companies do not spend much if any resources. As they say, you only get one chance ...

As I do almost every year, I rearranged my home office. This time I moved my desk against the wall and added a shelve to support my main monitors. This allows me to work from my two macs when I am at home, and RDP into my Windows development laptop (below the monitors). I mainly use the macs for graphics work and photography now. The MacBook Air is still goes with me each day and sometimes I bring the iPad as well. Without better pen support, the iPad is just my couch app device or car device for ...

I recently received some books to review around my favorite hobby, photography. I can't wait to get some time to go through all of them, but the first one that caught my attention was Creative Close-Ups: Digital Photography Tips and Techniques by Harold Davis. This is a book about Macro photography, which is a sub-hobby of my hobby. Macro photography is taking close-up photos of small subjects or higher detail of subjects. When most people get a camera, they love taking pictures of flowers. To be ...

I think most of the programmers have this disease of keeping them self busy with work and I am no exception. Several months ago I was interested in gardening and spent most of the time growing my vegetables. I like to think I was kind of successful as my garden produced 6-8 large tomatoes and one single huge egg plant. Anyway, Houston heat and insects have kept me out of the garden and I needed another gig. So, I decided to give photography a try. My wife bought a D5000 Nikon which was a perfect ...

I have been recently been doing more photography and Flickr was only allowing me to do so much with the images in displaying them. No customization of skin, no page grouping, no post like pages. So I decided to host a WordPress blog to host my images. I really wanted to try WordPress to see what features single-hosted blog products offer that our multiple-hosted blog system could take advantage of. So far the product is very cool, I can see how such a large developer network would help produce such ...

On Saturday June 5th, 2010, I spent my Saturday morning at the NYC Silverlight FireStarter. Presenting was Peter Laudati from Microsoft and Jason Beres, Matt Van Horn and Todd Snyder from Infragistics. I watched the Simulcast for the morning sessions as I was tied up with some work, but ended up finally making it to the Microsoft Office and had the opportunity to attend the last hour of the event in person. For me, the quality of the Simulcast was as good as in-person attendance so far as sound/video ...

Those of you who know me a bit better know that I like photography and that I have no fear in calling myself an amateur photographer. Perhaps I should restrain myself from using the word “photographer” associated with me, but I can’t help it, not because of the quality of my photos (sometimes doubtful, but hey, sometimes I manage to get decent ones, like the ones I’m adding to this article just for showing off purposes :D) but because I would love to actually be a photographer, so I try. When I’m ...

LyondellBasell has been such a great gig as a Biztalk developer, flex hours, 2 minutes motorcycle ride to work, new technologies, great pay! As the saying goes, "all things comes to an end", that being said, I found myself to be part of their latest cuts on IT after they filed for Chapter 11. Nothing new here, being an Enron veteran myself, I've realized that things only go better... at least in my experience. Divine intervention? Call it whatever you want, I simply call it a new job doing what I ...

Ciao, I'm Valter Minute, I'm a software developer working for Fortech Embedded Labs (www.fortechembeddedlabs.it), in Saronno, Italy. I'm Italian, and this should explain my poor english and excuse it, I hope. I was born in 1973 and I work on Windows CE since the beginning of this century (sounds like a lot of time written in this way). I started developing application on version 2.12 of the OS and then moved to BSP, drivers and other low-level stuff from version 3.0 on. I try to provide some helpful ...

One thing I do enjoy when travelling in the US is getting up to date on some of the Magazines that I don’t always get a chance to get hold of, or get a chance to read, as there’s usually a lot of time sitting in Aircraft or Airports? ;-) I caught this article in the PC Mag and found it quite useful, but I’ve cut their list down to the 11 that I thought were keepers. I could make that 10 really as I hadn’t come across Kayak before, but there you go? Top 100 Classic Web Sites from PC Magazine Digital ...

If you have followed my blog for a while you know that there were a number of graphic issues I had to begin with. In a change of event I am noticing lately that there are features of the Windows Explorer that are coming in handy. The first thing was the rating system for images. Many times I have heard the Lightroom experience described and its star rating system. From the day I started using Vista I noticed that it had similar capabilities, but it wasn’t clear how to use it beyond a single file. ...

I was getting caught up on my RSS feeds after PDC today and I ran across this Engadget article. I then thought, hey that photo looks familiar. Oh I know why, because I took it! Technorati Tags: PDC08,Photography ...

Little did I realize when I posted a blog entry asking for help on August 12th asking for help that the response would be so awesome! There were so many folks both local and quite far away who one way or another found that entry and helped in some way shape or form whether it was a donation of cash, school supplies, or clothing, thank you so much for everything everyone donated. One of the huge hurdles we faced with the kids is over for now. Getting them geared up for school with clothes, shoes, ...

Well, a programmer’s first entry is generally “hello world!” and mine too! but little change. “Hello Universe!”. Did I miss anyone (thing)? Though the blog name is Microsoftian, I would like to keep everything in this (my tech ramblings, personal observations, thoughts, my A.R.Rahman music world and little photography (trying to be) etc etc ...

If you have a digital camera or cellular phone, you already know how easy it is to use SD memory cards. Now you can enjoy the stunning clarity of GalleryPlayer's full high definition art and photography using this convenient, innovative technology.

Here is a software suggestion for those of you out there that enjoy doing digital photography and save to RAW format. I am using Photoshop Elements and was getting annoyed having to open all of my files individually in the editor to weed out the unacceptable ones. The Windows Image viewer wouldn't read the RAW files, so what do you do? The answer, as always, is Google for a free solution. It turns out that most of the major manufacturers of digital cameras are now putting out CODEC files so that ...

Ok, so if you didn't already know it I am a shutter bug. Everyone who is into photography knows that the big dog on the block is Photoshop CS3. Unfortunately if you don't get paid for your photography or get the "CEO's" approval for such an expenditure it is just way too expensive. So lately I have been looking at alternatives. This post will describe some of the plusses and minuses of a couple of editing packages. So which applications did I look at: Paint.NET, Nikon Capture NX, Paint Shop Pro Photo ...

Does anybody else have the same problem I do? All of my best ideas come to me when I'm at work. When I can't do anything about it.

I've come up with ideas for electric cars, solar powered vehicles, real life Iron Man suits that could "potentially" work. I've come up with Game Development websites and Flash based ideas for my fiancee's photography web site.

So why is it that all of my brilliant ideas come to me when I can't do anything about it because I'm working?

I was visiting a photography blog the other day and was having a lot of trouble reading it. All of the links we blending into the background. Being color blind I was wondering if it was just me and that was the way it was intended. When I asked the site owner about it he said it was a problem with IE and didn't know how to fix it. Of course being the geek that I am I couldn't leave it at that. I pulled down the source (evidently a WordPress template) and his style sheets. Everything looked fine, ...

Check out this amazing video of a new image resizing technique. Rather than just cropping or scaling, this technique determines the least valuable information in a picture and removes it, or adds in data at the elast valuable location allowing you to extend a picture. You can also mark an area as not valuable and erase people! I found this link on Little Green Footballs - which brings up the issue of recent fake photography scandals plaguing reuters and the like. But I find the technology amazing, ...

Here is a link that a friend sent me. A little risky (heck I wouldnt do it with a DSLR) but with a point and shoot maybe. http://cameratoss.blogspot.... Technorati tags: Camera, Toss, Photography Cross-posted from tariqayad.com ...

It isnt April 1st right? I mean its too late now for an April's fool gag eh? 2 articles on DPReview make me feel that it is not. They have 2 articles preview the Nikon D3 and the D300 Whoopie. Ofcourse I cant afford or think of affording either of these bodies, but one can always hope. And along the lines of hoping when these 2 babies come out, would the D200 come down in price? I foresee another couple of camera bodies comming out in 6 months to a years time as replacements to the D80 and D40 with ...

Well we now know who the winners are ... visit http://imaginecup.com/Compe... for all the news and winners in all the categories. Canada took 3rd place in the photography Competition Go Canada!! For my finals the Software Design Invitational it was an excellent competition and the results are as follows 3rd place: Jamaica Second Place: Korea!! but they left the stage to fast for picture since the press wanted them. First Place: Thailand!!! The winners to the British Telecom Image Cup ...

One of my hobbies is photography (webshots, zooomr) and I was listening to The Digital Photography Show podcast where the guest was Kevin Kubota. He presents photography seminars and is offering scholarships to his seminars. The interesting part of the application is that you have to describe what charity work you do. He said that he figures if he is doing something for you then you should be doing something for your community to show that you are serious. So how does this relate to architecture ...

I have been trying to learn PowerShell so I went to a book store with the initials BN to see what I could find. Call me old fashioned, but I still prefer to have hard copies of books. While I was there I wanted to look for books on my hobbies of photography and astronomy. This particular store only had one PowerShell book in a very small computer section. It had no astronomy books in its even smaller science section. I got so frustrated I forgot to look for the photography books. You would think ...

In most parts of the World its Summer now. Yay!! So digital-photography-school.com have put together 10 really good tips for taking pictures at the beach. Check it out http://digital-photography-... If you are into photography you should check out http://digital-photography-... anyways as it is a really good resource. Technorati tags: Photography, Beach Cross-posted from tariqayad.com ...

Isnt this just a super concept. A lovely light painting, the graffiti almost looks like a hologram? You need to view larger to appreciate it. Technorati tags: Photography, light painting, potW Cross-posted from tariqayad.com ...

Well its not the end of the week yet, but I did find an awesome picture that really emphasises on creativity. The picture by LeonParin a long exposure shot (I presume) its just so cool Link: http://www.deviantart.com/d... Technorati tags: Photography, POTW Cross-posted from tariqayad.com ...

Technorati tags: Photography, POTW Occasionally I haunt a few photography sites or other looking for images that catch my eye (giving a bit of critique based on what little I know). The photograph I found most amazing this week is one by Atanas Atanasov uploaded to Photo.net. In fact it was Photo of the Week Ending February 5th at Photo.net. Its just one of those photos that make you say WOW! really is amazing, go see it for yourself. Cross-posted from tariqayad.com ...

A while back I replied to a Rob Caron post regarding the connection of a TFS Proxy to a TFS Server in a different domain. Here's the link: http://blogs.msdn.com/robca... So, I am finally getting around to posting the actual Visio diagram for this particular configuration. I can verify that this configuration still works with SP1 of TFS. A few notes: This solution uses local machine accounts, taking advantage of pass-through authentication. While using non-domain accounts ...

Not sure if anyone's been following this, but it caught me off guard when I first heard about it the other day on the news. James Kim, who if you were a vet of Tech TV would remember as being one of the main hardware and device reviewers, as well as an avid digital photography buff, has gone missing in the wilderness trying to find help for his family. You can read the whole story at CNN here. They found his pants, which could be a sign he's suffering from hypothermia and is having delusions that ...

If you’re reading this site, chances are you’re a geek. Being a geek is normally a good thing, but technologically challenged friends and family probably look to you as their IT support, whether it’s hardware, software, or anything related. If you have cringed when a friend or family member, whose technical knowledge is sadly lacking, has mentioned they want a digital camera and look to you for support, you owe it to yourself to give them a copy of Digital Photography: The Missing ...

I had a buddy that had this question recently. I think this is a great explanation… For print production (and web, actually) there are two basic image types: raster and vector. Raster images are made of pixels. Vector images are made of lines in the geometry sense of the word: they don’t have a thickness, really. They’re algebraic equations.This is a sample of a raster image: Raster images are resolution-dependent. They’re only as good as the resolution they were created ...

The Canary Project is a novel project that demonstrates that Global Warming is real and is happening right now. The project compiles a series of photographs from around the world that provides proof of global warming, e.g. melting glaciers, rising sea levels, extreme weather events etc. I hope the world takes note. Technorati : canary project, global warming, photography Cross-posted from tariqayad.com ...

I have been a fan of Egypt since I was a kid. I taught myself (some) hieroglypics, went on excavations in the backyard, and even had plans to be mummified. So when I saw King Tut was back in the states, I had to go. My mom had taken me when I was very young, but unfortunately I don't remember it. I tried to go on opening weekend, but it was sold out, so Natasha and I went back to the Field Museum this last weekend. This went sour pretty quickly. I brought my camera, and several lenses, along to be ...

So while I was running around downtown Chicago this Memorial Day weekend, I ran into 20 fat guys in diapers. Seriously. This is why I need to move to a big city, this type of photography opportunity will never happen in Iowa, and there are only so many pictures of a barn that the world needs. My apologies if you are eating lunch (but maybe this will encourage you to diet) More images available at my photograpy site ...

I saw this post on Thomas Hawk's blog, pointing to a nice article comparing DSLR's to Point and Shoot Cameras at Digital Photography School. This article is a great primer for people thinking about making a jump to higher-end photography. A point the article makes that I cannot emphasize enough : Megapixels are not the most important factor in picture quality. Equally (if not more important) is the size of the sensor, and the size of the apeture. Both of these combine into how much light from the ...

Yes thats the name of the bucket that software like ACDSee falls into. “Digital Asset Mangement”, ACDSee being the most popular of those, and the latest ACDSee 8 Pro which I have been trying out is very good. Nice cool interface, very much improved. But an episode of the LightSource photography podcast introduced me to iView Media Pro, which in my opinion is even better. The inteface is much easier to work. It gives you the same features as ACDSee, but its much simpler to use since the ...

Martin Bailey has a very good series of podcasts on photography on his site. Its very informative, he has episodes on White Balance, Expsure, panning etc. Its very very good, also check out some of his shots on the site.

So on the back of my comments earlier in the week about Nikon pulling out of the Film camera business comes this news from TheRegister that Konica-Minolta are to quit the photography market altogether. So if you hadn't realised by now, Cameras are definately just a commodity now, Konica-Minolta lost USD$62.3m on net sales of USD$1.01bn ...

I've had my first week with the Nikon D200 during my Christmas vacation in Washington DC. So far I absolutely love the camera. It is slightly bigger and heavier than the D70 it replaced, but that has not detracted from the camera. However, take that with a grain of salt, as I am a fairly big guy, with big hands, and I might actually prefer it to be bigger rather than smaller. As expected, I don't miss the creative modes at all, and when I am looking for an automatic camera, I just put it into P (Programmed ...

So my D70 decided to get intimate with the ice over thanksgiving, and shattered itself, along with my 70-300 lens. I don't use that lens very much anymore, as I have a 70-200F4, and a 28-300 that I use most of the time, but every once in a while that range was nice. Its a cheap lens, so no biggy. The camera hurts me tho. Fortunately I had it insured before my trip to Paris. I am still waiting on the insurance company to decide if they want to replace or repair, but in either case I am going to take ...

It was interesting that they only allowed photography of Bill Gates for the first minute of his presentation. Also, you weren’t allowed to use your laptops in the crowd as well – so I ended up taking my notes on paper instead of doing it with Microsoft Word like I normally do. Oh well. So, there was a lot said at the Bill Gates keynote, so I will only go through what I think were the highlights of the presentation. Video – Bill started off with a bit of humor and presented a video ...

This is my breakdown of the keynote. This is unedited and most likely filled with spelling and grammar errors. 8:52 - Finally sitting down. Received a free Windows Update Services (WUS) CD 8:55 - The half the large screens as have Windows Media Player on them with visualizations. On the other half the sponsors list keeps going by. Where is Dell as a sponsor?? Usually Dell is a huge sponsor. Dell also doesn't have booth. 8:59 - People still entering. Good music so far. 9:03 - Welcome everyone to TechEd. ...

I just received the premiere issue of Make Magazine from O'Reilly yesterday. Let me just say this mag is a geek's dream come true. It's not a magazine about coding. Heck, I'm not sure if calling it a magazine is even accurate. It's more of a journal or zine (but with higher production values). A geek quarterly, if you will. For example... the premiere issue features an article on aerial photography. Not geeky enough for you? Ok, how about aerial photography accomplished by rigging up a camera to ...